O’Connor attacks labour list domination by gays and unionists

A Labour MP says the party’s new list is dominated by “self-serving unionists and a gaggle of gays”.

The party was the target of a bitter broadside from list MP Damien O’Connor, who opted not to go on the list, which he said was dominated by unionists and a gaggle of gays.

A gaggle of gays? Pretty insulting to his caucus colleagues.

Labour leader Phil Goff said he had “scolded” Mr O’Connor about the comments, which the MP had told him about, “although … it will probably help him no end on the Coast. He’s a pretty straight talker and he used West Coast language.”

I wonder what Robertson and Chauvel think of Goff saying that is “west coast language” which will help O’Connor “no end” on the coast.

O’Connor could have made the point that straight white males struggle to get good list rankings, due to the identity politics in Labour, without labelling people as a “gaggle of gays”.

O’Connor said he stood aside because he did not trust the list ranking process. “Frankly, I didn’t trust the system to give a straight-shooter a fair deal … It is dominated by self-serving unionists and a gaggle of gays.” …

“It does not truly represent the rank-and-file members and delivers a list that is not truly representative of those who vote Labour.”

So let us look at the effective list for Labour, and see if the substance of Damien’s comments are accurate. How many non-union straight European males (such as Damien) have list spots? In the top 15 effective spots, there is only one – David Parker. In the top 30 effective spots, there are only two – Parker and Nash.

So Damien has a legitimate gripe, but the way he has gone about expressing it does him little credit.

Maggie

Rich Prick (755) Says:

April 11th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Maggie, thanks for that long essay. When I fire a useless fucker, he’s out the door, I don’t ponder all that shite you mention. It means nothing. That’s the real world. Unions, worse than genital warts, and that would be the employees’ view too after I’ve had costs awards against every single one of them, paid by the union I suppose.

RP there are times when you are so deliberately extreme and obscene it is impossible to take you seriously..

But, for the fun of it, I’ll play along.

To be awarded costs, you must take part in two hearings. The first is a mediation, the second a costs hearing. This will take the guts of two days, one day for each.

About 75% of employers awarded costs get $2000 or less.

So you waste your time and money seeking costs when the award doesn’t meet the cost of your own time, let alone the cost of a lawyer for two days?

Still it give your workers a break from you, I guess. I suspect they need one.

Rich Prick

John Ansell

I’m a right-winger but far from a conservative, and I don’t hate unions, though I do hate the way teacher unions take out large ads proclaiming their love of children when everyone knows they’re the biggest bullies in the school.

But what I really hate is the use of the word ‘worker’ to describe manual workers only, with the insulting implication that those who create their jobs do not work.

If only!

As for Damien O’Connor, his use of the word ‘gaggle’ (surely ‘giggle’ would be better?) got the issue top billing on CloseUp, so that’s a win.

If he hadn’t been so colourful, we’d all be none the wiser about Labour’s prejudices.

For fucks sake Penny, cut the superfluous shite from your posts, organise coherent sentences and work them into paragraphs, like you should have been taught at school. And lay off the full-stop key, we have an issue round here with that.

Cameron?
How lovely to hear from you – another level-headed, rational, well-reasoned post! 😉

Given that David has not died and made you the boss – think I’ll continue to exercise the freedom of expression you deny me on your blog?

“FYI Maggie, I am a lawyer. Worst of all a corporate lawyer.”

Yeah right – you SO sound like a lawyer Cameron? –

So why don’t you defend yourself in Court?

Given that almost every poster boy/grrl (including yourself Cameron?) has dropped the ad hominum petty abusive adjectives before my name, and now just refer to me as ‘Penny’ – I take that to indicate that most, including yourself, are actually reading what I have to say?

You may not like my considered opinions – but I think most of you are choosing not to ignore them.

Given that I usually back up what I think with facts and evidence to help explain why I think that way (unlike many – including yourself Cameron?), I think it helps make my considered opinions worth considering.

Now this is the sort of ‘campaigning unionism’ upon which I’m sure we’ll all agree?

“We do not have a budget deficit,” Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, one of the rally’s main organizers, told the crowd. “We have a social services deficit, we have a jobs deficit, we have a revenue deficit, and we have a deficit of leadership.”

Yep – about time we had here in NZ:

Social welfare – not corporate welfare’
Public monies spent on the public majority – not the corporate minority’!

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Thousands of union members from all over Washington poured into the state Capitol Friday, calling on lawmakers to “put people first” by ending corporate tax breaks and painful cuts to public programs.

The protest was by far the largest of four days of boisterous demonstrations in Olympia over spending cuts legislators are considering in order to help close a looming $5 billion budget deficit for the next two-year cycle.

Buses began arriving at the Capitol hours before the noon rally, carrying musicians, iron workers, firefighters and others concerned about the scarcity of jobs, the rising cost of college and the security of their pensions. The Washington State Patrol estimated 7,000 people gathered outside the main legislative building, while labor group leaders put the figure closer to 12,000.

Protesters said they hoped the demonstration would serve as a powerful reminder to lawmakers of who their decisions are affecting as they work to craft the state’s next two-year budget. The House plans to vote Friday or Saturday on a budget plan that includes $4.4 billion in cuts, while the Senate will introduce its own proposal next week.

“We need to remind them that we need changes right now, not later,” said Tim Haslett, an electrical worker and father of five from Seattle who has been unemployed for most of the past two years. “I’m trying to do everything I can to pay for my youngest daughter to go to college next year, but I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do that if there are no jobs.”

“We do not have a budget deficit,” Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, one of the rally’s main organizers, told the crowd. “We have a social services deficit, we have a jobs deficit, we have a revenue deficit, and we have a deficit of leadership.”

Many of the signs blanketing the crowd focused on the need to discontinue tax breaks for the financial services and other industries before resorting to more cuts. One read, “My community college teacher pays more tax than General Electric,” while another declared, “We the People v. We the Corporation.”

nasska

Maggie

Rich Prick (758) Says:

April 11th, 2011 at 11:57 pm
FYI Maggie, I am a lawyer. Worst of all a corporate lawyer.

Well at least you recognise corporate lawyers are worse than ordinary lawyers. I agree. They are even worse than shark lawyers, tinpot lawyers, lying lawyers and lawyers with paper hats on their heads.

This could be a magic moment RP, a genuine breakthrough. At last, we agree on something! When you reckon you are shite, how could I break your heart by differing?

Louis, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. My place or yours, darling?

Maggie

Rich Prick (758) Says:

April 11th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Put it away, is phil back in prision? He has been very quiet (God I feel sorry for his kid, who must just about to reach the peddles of the get-away car, and may be of age for phil to get a job).

A corporate lawyer who doesn’t know the difference between peddling something and pedalling away? Surely not. RP, peddling is what you do to attract clients. Pedalling is what you do when you stuff their case up and cost them millions.